Each chakra is aligned with our body’s most vital glands. All these glands together maintain equilibrium inside our bodies by secreting their own hormones. When our physical body performs its functions in a balanced manner, the net consumption and expenditure of energy reaches equilibrium. At this stable situation we can use our souls to reach the energy state.
The meditative techniques of Kundalini yoga involve invoking the Kundalini energy lying dormant at the spine’s base and raise it to the seventh chakra that is around the pineal gland. However, this is not as easy as it sounds. The dormant energy (like the phrase says) lies undetected by our body and mind until awakened by deep mindful meditation! Through continuous practice, the energy can be felt first as a slow pulsating vibration, then with further concentration a sense of pressure sets in around the first chakra(at the spine’s base).
This pressure doesn’t rise from the muscles in the region, for the body and the mind are completely relaxed during the practice. It is from the energy acting upon the muscles there. The next step is to raise the energy to the second chakra and to balance the glands in that region. The process is continued through the consecutive chakras until the energy reaches the seventh level.
This exercise is done to balance the glands in each chakra region, to increase the concentration of energy in the brain and to increase its potential. Control over the first 5 senses is brought by concentrating the energy on the sixth chakra around the pituitary gland. Here the organs performing the senses’ functions are gradually slowed down and put to sleep. That is, the parts of the brain responsible for the senses are turned off. The skin, even though feeling the wind blowing over it, can’t imply the synapse to our brain, and the ears, though hearing the sounds, can’t convey them. Next, when the energy is raised from the sixth to seventh chakra only the thought and reasoning process or the sixth sense, remains online.
To be a bit more technical in our study, if an Electroencephalograph (EEG) study is taken during the process, we can see that our brain wave activity spikes down from normal levels of 8–13 Hz to 3.5 to 7.5 Hz when energy is raised to the sixth chakra and further down to 3 Hz or less, upon reaching the seventh chakra. The electrical impulses generated in the brain are reduced during the process, and the physical body attains a low activity state too. (So, it is about lowering the vibrations and not raising them!)
Upon activation, the seventh chakra further reduces our brain activity, with only a slow chain of thoughts crossing our minds. The consciousness of the mind and the brain’s working are the only factors that mean our existence at this particular moment!
At this point during the meditative process, we can realise the power of thoughts and how seamlessly the train of thoughts work. The thoughts coming to the mind now are mostly our past experiences, but the successive thoughts and the links in the chain appear to be intriguing. Normally our thought process is too fast and keeping track of it (and the instincts leading up to them) seems very difficult. This happens because of the constant interference from the 5 sensory organs and their impulses.
But in the meditative state, it becomes possible for our mind and the brain to slow down and take control of the thought process!
